Aiport News & Press Releases

Allegiant recently kicked off its Dodge High Fares campaign and is giving away a free round-trip ticket each week through August at dodgehighfares.com. In the Dodge High Fares campaign, Allegiant is asking Santa Maria residents to tell the company what they would dodge with a free vacation. Allegiant also reported that since it first arrived …

Local 2020 Rescues Annual Event from Budget Cuts 2013-07-12T00:45:00Z Junior Firefighter Camp lets kids reach new heightsBrian Bullock/bbullock@santamariatimes.com Santa Maria Times Seventy-five feet nearly straight up probably never looked so high to 8-year-old Owen Rich, one of 35 local children participating this week in the Santa Maria Fire Department’s Junior Firefighter Camp. The 110-foot ladder …

89th annual Pioneer Picnic This year’s picnic is slated for Saturday, July 13, at Pioneer Park on west Foster Road.  For information, call Jane at 937-4405, Karen at 922-9295 or email the Santa Maria Pioneer Association at tsmvpa@gmail.com. The Pioneer Association, originally named “The Old Timers of Santa Maria,” was organized at a dinner meeting …

There were only happy smiles, and no alarmed screeches, as a giant, one-eyed, yellow, alien-looking creature sailed over the Central Coast on Tuesday and Wednesday. The unusual sight was the Despicablimp, advertising the movie “Despicable Me 2,” in theaters next Wednesday. Even blimps need an energy boost sometimes, and the aircraft stopped to gas up …

Casualty Drill Held as Training Exercise Local emergency responders experienced the training benefits of a plane crash without the tragedy during an exercise Wednesday. The drill held Wednesday morning at the Santa Maria Public Airport simulated a mass-casualty plane crash involving 40 to 50 passengers with a post-crash fire and a fuel leak. A school …

Crews Completing, Improving Fire Lines; Mopping Up Hot Spots By the numbers Location: 6 miles north of Santa Barbara Size: 1,984 acres as of Wednesday Percent contained: 90 percent expected by 6 p.m. Wednesday Estimated cost: $1.5 million Resources (Committed for Wednesday): 6 air tankers, 2 air attack planes, 12 helicopters, 14 crews, 33 engines, …

Former Pilot, Paratrooper Revisit Old Friend at SMX There was a World War II reunion of sorts this week in Santa Maria, as three Army veterans came together. Frank Goins, a flight officer with the U.S. Army Air Corps, Bindo Grasso of Guadalupe, a paratrooper with the U.S. Army who served in France in the …

Thanks to Nonprofit, Two Local Veterans Fly High in a 1942  P-17 2013-05-05T00:15:00Z Seasoned vets get a taste of heavenBy Kenneth Klein/Contributing Writer Santa Maria Times When two seasoned veterans showed up at the Santa Maria Airport for free rides in a single-engine warplane, they did not seem to have a health care in the …

The Douglas C-47 Skytrain that was recently restored by volunteers and staff at ArtCraft Paint at the Santa Maria Public Airport rolls out of the hangar headed for the Lightning Strike Chino air show. The plane, owned by a group associated with the Estrella Warbirds Museum in Paso Robles, carried both troops and cargo for …